Delhi HC seeks city govt's stand on providing medical staff, infra for JNU Covid centre

The Delhi High Court has sought the city government's stand on providing infrastructure and medical staff for a proposed Covid care center at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

The counsel for the JNU Teachers' Association and others, who have filed a petition on the availability of medical facilities on the campus to deal with COVID-19, said that though the university administration has earmarked space in the Sabarmati Dormitory for setting up a Covid center, doctors and requisite infrastructure are not available.

Justice Rekha Palli granted time to the Delhi government's counsel to obtain instructions on assigning staff and providing other facilities to JNU's Covid center and listed the case for further hearing to January 13, 2022.

''Learned counsel for respondent No. 2 (Delhi government) prays for time to obtain instructions in this regard. At request, list (the case for hearing) on 13.01.2022,'' the judge said in her order dated October 27.

On May 13, the court had directed that a Covid care center be set up at JNU for immediate isolation of residents testing positive for coronavirus as the number of infections on the campus was ''quite high''.

The court issued the order after it was told that a Covid Task Force and a Covid Response Team were already working inside the campus.

On May 28, the JNU administration had told the court that a site for setting up the Covid center had been identified and communicated to the concerned sub-divisional magistrate as well as the Delhi government. It said that the Delhi government had to provide doctors, nursing staff, and the required infrastructure to run the facility.

In response, the city government had said that its health department was looking into the matter.

In its petition filed during the second wave of the pandemic, JNU Teachers Association, JNU Students Association, and two faculty members, who were represented by advocate Abhik Chimni, had claimed that the university administration did not respond to their repeated requests for setting up a Covid care facility.

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